Japanese Game Devs Pick Splatoon As Their Game of The Year

[Steven Bogos]

Japanese Game Devs Pick Splatoon As Their Game of The Year

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/937/937010.jpg
Western RPGs Fallout 4 and The Witcher 3 also ranked surprisingly highly on the list.

Japanese gaming mag Splatoon [http://www.4gamer.net/games/000/G000000/20151211081/] was the undisputed winner, with a whopping 24 total votes. To put that into perspective, the second place winners were Bloodborne and Super Mario Maker with only 8 votes each. But perhaps most surprising, in a nation that has historically been hostile towards Western-developed games, Fallout 4 and The Witcher 3 tied for third place with 7 votes each, beating out prominent Japanese titles such as Metal Gear Solid V and Dragon Quest Heroes.

You can check out the DualShockers [//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1024/1024795.png]). You'll also notice that console games are quite prevalent on the list, which should hopefully lay to rest the cries that "console gaming in Japan is dying," and being replaced with mobile games.

It's really interesting that Splatoon got such high praise. The game went from relative unknown to crazy popular overnight, and with its addictive, pick-up-and-play gameplay, it's not hard to see why. It's also interesting to see Japanese devs ranking the likes of Fallout 4 and The Witcher 3 above their own games, perhaps signalling a change in the Japanese gaming audience.

Source: Dual Shockers [http://www.4gamer.net/games/000/G000000/20151211081/]

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[Silentpony_v1legacy]

To be fair, do you think Japanese devs are going to choose anything other than Nintendo's huge new flagship?
It's like doing the same poll in France and finding out the winner is an Ubisoft game.

 

[JayRPG]

To be fair, do you think Japanese devs are going to choose anything other than Nintendo's huge new flagship?
It's like doing the same poll in France and finding out the winner is an Ubisoft game.

They rated Fallout 4 over Metal Gear Solid V... I think that says enough about the poll that they didn't just donkey vote for Nintendo, and if company loyalty was all that was on their mind where are the Sony games on this list?

 

[Legion]

To be fair, do you think Japanese devs are going to choose anything other than Nintendo's huge new flagship?
It's like doing the same poll in France and finding out the winner is an Ubisoft game.

They rated Fallout 4 over Metal Gear Solid V... I think that says enough about the poll that they didn't just donkey vote for Nintendo, and if company loyalty was all that was on their mind where are the Sony games on this list?

Not that I disagree with the general point, but to answer your question, Bloodborne came second and was published by Sony.

 

[Hero of Lime]

What an incredibly smart, and probably attractive group of people. Splatoon IS pretty fantastic!

 

[Newage]

To be fair, do you think Japanese devs are going to choose anything other than Nintendo's huge new flagship?
It's like doing the same poll in France and finding out the winner is an Ubisoft game.

As a frenchman, I honestly doubt that french game devs would vote for Ubi just because they're french.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

To be fair, do you think Japanese devs are going to choose anything other than Nintendo's huge new flagship?
It's like doing the same poll in France and finding out the winner is an Ubisoft game.

Well, that's some of the faultiest reasoning I've seen in awhile. Guess what, Nintendo is not the only developer/publisher in Japan and not the only one who released something big the past year (and it's not like Splatoon was the only big title they released this past year). Though it is funny how they got the landslide winner (with 24 votes), but also tied for runner-up with Super Mario Maker (which got 8 votes with Bloodborne).

Anyway, good to see Splatoon keep getting recognition. With DLC through January it'll be interesting to see what the team does next.

 

[Doozie]

Lol, of course they did.

 

[Las7]

Not surprising, it's the biggest console game of Japan for 2015.
Probably one of the few console games that will pass 1.5 million sold in Japan this gen
It's the biggest debut of a new IP in Japan since Yokai Watch. In a few weeks it will overtake MK8 lifetime sales and doesn't appear to be stopping. Just this December it sold over a quarter of a million while helping move a lot of Wii U's this Holiday in Japan.